Trap-Jaw Ants

Can you jump over 100 feet in the air? Neither can I. But trap-jaw ants can perform the equivalent feat. With their mouths. This video (complete with protractor!) demonstrates these amazing insects in action, using their jaws to propel themselves great distances.

From the YouTube post:

This has to be one of the oddest (and strangely mesmerizing) things on the net: ants flying through the air in extreme slow motion propelled by the rapid closing of their jaws. All set to a very peculiar sound track. The ant at the top of the image above is cart-wheeling its way over the other two.

What are the other ants thinking while they watch this? Does this hurt the ant? I’m convinced that many animals have cognition. But insects? Is this all reflex? What’s going on here?

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